Historic Old Bailey / Newgate trial transcripts online

international | rights, freedoms and repression | other press Tuesday April 29, 2008 17:06 by Stuart

The Old Bailey, 1674-1913, including trials of great relevance to modern Ireland

The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 1674-1913 are available in a searchable online database. A fully searchable edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, containing 197,745 criminal trials held at London's central criminal court.

Trials from major Irish figures to the unknown masses prosecuted for petty offences are an important resource relevant to the formation of modern Irish society.

As the BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7365879.stm) puts it "Some of the most sensational cases ever to be tried in Britain are detailed. The crimes of Dr Crippen, Oscar Wilde and the suffragettes are among those detailed online on an expanded website. Some 200,000 trials are now on the Old Bailey Proceedings site, taking the court coverage from 1674 to 1913. The project's directors say the site conveys not only the drama of the trials, but also a wealth of details about ordinary life at the time."